That's immortality my darlings
by PLLena
Summary: This is my first story and it takes place right after the girls get back from college.
1. Chapter 1

Hanna pulled up outside of the Applewood Grille and parked her car in the first spot she saw. She immediately recognized the beat up black car that belonged to Aria and Spencer's sleek all black SUV taking up two spots across the street. Leave it to Spencer to not only be on time, but to make sure it's known she was here early. Hanna tucked her corn silk blonde lock behind her ear as she nervously exited her car, preparing herself to meet with her friends for the first time since that summer before College.

The last the girls had seen of each other was a sort of end to their story. A was finally captured and once everything was said and done, they kind of lost touch. Spencer went off to UPenn and will be headed to Yale Law in the fall. Aria got into Syracuse and had just landed a job at the Rosewood Tribune detailing small petty crimes. Emily completed college on a swim scholarship and just accepted the head swim coach position at Rosewood High. Alison had just got back from Hollywood, she decided against college and went immediately for stardom and had just wrapped a small role on some hot new ABC drama. Meanwhile, Hanna graduated from FIT and had just started her first job with an up and coming designer in Philly. They had all grown up in their four years apart, sending a random text every few months, but otherwise keeping their distance. After nearly dying several times in the course of a few years, sometimes distance is necessary.

Ali had sent out a group text once she got back to Rosewood wanting to see her friends again. It had been a long time since they'd faced each other, but time heals woods. Hanna suspected she was just inviting the girls out so she could gloat about her new life, her job and Alex Loundres, the hot new guy on the scene she somehow managed to snag all to herself. Well, Hanna knew how she did it, Ali was gorgeous, even more so than she remembered her being in high school. Some people have all the luck. Ali is one of those people.

She anxiously fixed the pleats in her skirt before she swung open the door and saw Aria and Spencer sitting together awkwardly. Well, everyone was awkward around Aria. She was beautiful, in that pale skin, dark haired with piercing blue eyes way. But, she was the awkward one. She was the girl that danced to the beat of her own drummer, and guitarist and some weird Nordic instrument Hanna wouldn't be able to pronounce her lifetime. Aria was awkward, but sweet. Spencer though, Spencer was a hard nut to crack. She was usually on warp speed, rattling on about something no one understood and didn't stop to pick up lost thinkers along her train of thought. She just kept going. So seeing the two of them there together was a sight for Hanna. Maybe she did miss her friends?

"Hey Han!" Aria yelled as she saw Hanna standing there with a weird glazed over look on her face. She looked fabulous in her pleated Michael Kors skirt and white chiffon blouse. Aria always felt fashionable, but these days she usually wore the journalist uniform: black shirt, black pants and a chic trench coat she found at a thrift shop in Prague.

"Aria, hey! You look great!" Hanna said as she walked over and gave her friend an air kiss before turning to Spencer who was now standing in her usual rigid manner. "Hey Spence, you look good too" she said as she gave her friend the once over. Hanna might be fashionable and be able to put together an outfit, but Spencer had the talent of dressing like a forty year old partner at some stuffy law firm.

"Yea you too Han-" She gave her friend a hug before the three of them sat down. "Aria and I were just discussing what we think Ali wants us all here for". Spencer nervously glanced at the door hoping no one walked in and over heard her, "Did she tell you? She just told me it was top secret and we'd find out when she got here". Hanna rolled her eyes at how nervous Spencer seemed to get. A was gone, Spencer seemed to have forgotten that. "She probably wants to gloat about her perfect life while the rest of us are paying off student loans and working for the man".

"Do you think she's bringing her boyfriend? I'd love to be able to ask him a few questions. My editor would probably faint if I got an exclusive with Alexander Loundres". Aria was practically foaming at the mouth at the idea of walking into her office on her third week on the job with a huge story.

"Yeah, I doubt it. She told my dad they broke up like a week ago, she was going after some soccer player. Something about how now that the world cup is over they're mini celebrities these days." Spencer picked a piece of chocolate out of her muffin and shrugged, "sorry Aria, no story".

Hanna went to retort with something she read in People Magazine but a flurry of dark hair drew her attention away. Emily had just stepped in with her dark hair cascading down her shoulders and her swimmers tan at full bronze. She gave them a nervous smile and walked over and sat down without a hug or a kiss for the girls. Emily was always the shy one, but she had the biggest heart out of all of them. Hanna missed her the most.

"Hey Coach, how's it going?" Aria asked with a big smile. She knew Emily was probably thrilled to be coaching the swim team, it was always a dream of hers to be able to come back and bring her experience to her team.

"It's going well. Had our first practice yesterday." She said barely raising her eyes up to meet Arias. "I ran into Fitz this morning in the parking lot. He told me to say hi". Emily turned beat read as she saw the flurry of emotions cross Arias face.

"Oh well, that's nice." Aria was curt about it, but she didn't want to open discussions about their previous favorite topic-her and Fitz. They split during her freshman year of college. She tried to forget about the book and the betrayal, but whenever he'd do even the slightest thing wrong, she remembered the book. He got tired of it being thrown in his face. They split quietly and amicably and hadn't spoken since.

"So, Em. You keep in touch with Ali the most. What's been going on with her?" Spencer wasn't in the mood for pleasantry. She had a law review reading list the size of her Legal Methods text book.

Emily shrugged and pulled a bottle of water out of her bag, "Not really sure. She was supposed to film some sort of commercial this weekend, when all of a sudden I got an email telling me she was cancelling it to come home and see us. Told me to meet you guys here and she couldn't wait". Emily thought nothing of the sudden urge to see her friends. Ali and her skyped a few times a month and Emily was getting the feeling Ali was homesick. LA was a lot bigger than she thought and maybe she wasn't getting enough attention.

Spencer looked down at her rolex and tapped her foot impatiently, "she's like 25 minutes late now. Someone text her and ask her where she is. I have to study".

Hanna and Aria both caught each other rolling their eyes and burst out laughing. Sometimes, no matter how much time passes people just don't change.

Spencer went to open her mouth to tell them off, she was about to be a 1L student, she had to study to top her class. She had a 15 year plan and that part was crucial. She was cut off though, the girls phones all went off with a text message. They looked at each other nervously, then grabbed their phones and saw it was from Ali.

A collective sigh of relief spread through them and they all laughed nervously, habits die hard right? Hanna's fingers were still slightly shakey as she opened Ali's text. All it contained was a photo of Ali on the floor and the letter A.


	2. Chapter 2

Aria had gone back to her apartment in a rush and slammed the door behind her. Her heart hadn't stopped pounding since her phone went off. How is A back, Mona was behind bars, she confessed to a litany of A crimes, they were supposed to be notified if Mona was released. Her head was swimming as she quickly ran to her windows and shut the blinds sending her small studio apartment into almost complete darkness. She was supposed to be writing a small write up on a dog that went after some woman's cat, but she couldn't even think about something so petty when it looked like A was back and had Ali.

She thought back to the moment after they realized what was going on. A had Ali, or atleast knew where Ali was, and the girls almost all completely dashed. Except for Emily, the little attack dog. She immediately followed them all out of the café and berated them for leaving their friend in obvious danger. Maybe Emily didn't realize how much of their lives were stolen by this game. Maybe she didn't care? Either way, Aria wasn't about to get trapped in another mouse trap over some crazy person who couldn't keep their games to themselves.

It was at moments like this when she was scared and worried and couldn't get her breathing under control that she liked to call Ezra. Ezra always knew how to keep her calm, bring her back to reality with some simple quote from a book he just read. She sat down and sighed knowing that he wouldn't be coming to her rescue anymore. Their breakup was still raw for her, she never loved anyone so deeply, so completely as him and she knew she never would. But, too much had happened. Between his book and the lying she couldn't look at him the same way. He betrayed her. She tried to forgive and forget, but it was impossible.

She sat down on her couch and pulled her knees up around her and hugged them. She stared at her phone which was thrown on her coffee table with her house keys and sighed. She was allowed four years of peace and quiet, four years to start a life and now it's being taken away again. She was about to let her mind wander when her phone went off again with a tone she designated for Spencer. She grabbed it off the table and looked it over, "_I'm starting to think A was the one that invited us all to the Grille, not Ali_". Aria bit her lip and thought about it, she had a point. None of them got a call, Emily said she skyped with her, but that was before she left for Rosewood. Maybe A got to her before she was able to get out or... Aria quickly opened her keyboard and text back, "_what if A is why she came back in such a hurry? Should we go to the police?_"

Aria got up and began to pace her apartment while she waited on Spencer to text her back, her mind was racing. What if A never left Ali alone? Maybe that's why she moved out west, hoping to shake the stalker? And, now that Ali was back, she brought the maniac with her. She ran her fingers through her hair anxiously waiting on a response, how can they be back to doing this? Her phone went off again and she looked it over, but this time it wasn't from Spencer. It was from Ali's phone, "_I know your secrets, and I'll __**unbury**__ them if you talk"._


	3. Chapter 3

Emily sat in the quiet aquatic center, listening to the quiet murmur of the pool filter. This is how she liked her pool. Silent. Empty. Awaiting the torrent of varsity swimmers about to break the smooth surface and splash its contents along the pool deck. She never imagined she'd take over as the swim coach and director, but it was a dream come true. A dream she never really knew she had until she was approached to take over for her retiring coach.

Emily got up and started to prep the pool for practice, throwing the lane lines in and connecting them, getting all the kick boards ready and prepping their work out when she heard the door close. She looked at the clock and noted whoever was first in, was at least 15 minutes early for practice. She liked the dedication. She stepped out of her little office to greet the ambitious swimmer, but there was no one there. She looked around, absolutely sure she heard the door open, but she was alone. Her mind immediately went to the text she got the day before while she was at the grille with the girls, and the hair on her neck stood up. She was alone at the pool, with plenty of stuff around her that A could use to kill her. And, no one would find her for at least another 15 minutes.

She was about to make a mad dash for the hallway where there she'd at least be closer to the teachers lounge, but there was a shadowy figure now directly in her way.

"Hey Emily", Ezra said stepping out of the shadow and allowing himself to be seen by his former student and now his colleague.

He always has a way of showing up in the creepiest ways, Emily thought. She never quite got over how A like he was when they were younger. "Hi Mr.—I mean Ezra. You scared me a little". She gave her hair a nervous pull before she backed up ever so slightly.

Ezra furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her sadly, "Oh, I'm sorry. I came in through the locker room looking to cut through to the lounge. I didn't realize you'd be at the pool today." He shifted the weight of his messenger bag and looked down at his worn in tennis shoes. Not much about Ezra had changed except now he had a little salt to his pepper hair and his eyes had this very distinguished wrinkles around them. He still looked like he could be a college student, but, at the same time, he looked mature like a teacher should.

Emily nodded and again tugged at her hair nervously like she always did when she felt a little on edge. She paused awkwardly before she went to say something then shut her mouth again. She wanted to phrase what she had to say carefully. She knew things could go one way or another and she wanted to make sure it went the right way. "Have you spoken to Aria? She's back living in Rosewood." Emily wanted him to think she cared about his relationship with Aria, but she was really phishing to see if he knew A was back, or if he was A. Not that he'd openly admit to that.

Ezra's face and ears went bright red for a split second before his heart sped up, "No, no I haven't. I did hear she got a job working for the paper, but I haven't seen her. I uh, I doubt she wants to see me anyway". He nervously rubbed the back of his neck and let out a little chuckle, "ever since it fell apart she's gone through great lengths to keep from seeing me. I try to respect that". He moved his hand from his neck and shoved them in his pockets. "Anyway, I should go. I have to report my lesson plans to Mr. Tamborelli before tomorrow so he doesn't change things too last minute." He went to turn and walk back towards the hallway.

"Ezra wait." Emily wasn't even sure where her mouth was going with this, all she knew was her feet were moving towards a man she once feared and her mouth was moving all on its own. "I think you should reach out to Aria. Some things have been happening lately, and I think she might need a shoulder to lean on. Or bounce ideas off of." Emily got within a few feet of him and he turned around and looked her dead in the eyes.

"What do you mean, some things?" Ezra furrowed his eyebrows waiting for Emily to elaborate. He hadn't spoken to Aria since well, since she walked out of their apartment for the last time he couldn't figure out what could possible make her suddenly want his shoulder to cry on.

"Just some stuff, ya know? Being back in Rosewood has us all on edge. After everything that happened here before we all left. We could all use familiar people around, people who don't stare at us everything we walk anywhere, or whisper loudly behind our backs. She trusted you once, she relied on you once. Maybe she just needs to know she can do that again?" Emily didn't want him to know A was back. She knew he was damaged from the situation himself, still sporting the bullet scar to prove it.

Ezra waited a moment to formulate a thought on the subject when he suddenly heard voices of husky seniors making their way towards to pool. "Why don't you stop by my apartment later so we can talk? I have a text I want to show you. I thought it was a prank, but I'm starting to think I'm not the only one that got one". He whispered the last part as the seniors walked in and loudly walked passed them heading to the locker rooms.

The color drained from Emily's face as she nodded, and then tried to force herself to look as nonchalant as possible. She still wasn't sure she believed A was back. Maybe it was some crazy fan just messing with them? Maybe it was Ali's way of making a stupid joke. Maybe, well maybe it wasn't all real and she was dreaming. "Oh, um… sure. I guess I'll check it out. It's probably some loser though". Emily backed away from Ezra like he was carrying the plague, but it didn't matter. He saw her face, he saw her reaction. He knew it was the real deal.

"I'll uh.. see you later". Ezra nearly tripped on his shoes as he ran out of the pool, pushing rudely passed a few underclassmen swimmers making their way into the aquatic center.

"God Fitz is hot, but so rude" one of the girls said to Emily as she walked passed. Emily didn't even acknowledge her. She was too busy getting her phone out to text the girls an SOS. She didn't know what to do with the information, but she was sure she couldn't figure it out on her own.


	4. Chapter 4

Spencer nervously earmarked a page in her book as she waited for Emily to come back into the room. All the girls had rushed over to her apartment as soon as she was done with swim practice, but none of them knew why. "Em… I really have to get back and study. I have like four chapters to read before tonight".

Hanna rolled her eyes and she picked at the chips on the table, "Spenc, you haven't even started school yet. You do realize that right?"

Spencer looked over at Hanna and shrugged, "so? I'm already behind. You realize I am going to the best law school in the world, right? I'm going to school with kids who have studied law since they were in utero."

Emily walked in just as Hanna had opened her mouth to answer back. "Guys, we have a problem". She closed her bedroom door, even though she lived alone. "I ran into Ezra again today, and he said he got a text from A".

Aria immediately turned red as Spencer interjected, "well we all agreed it was a psycho. I mean, it's not unlike Ali to ignore us all for weeks and we've gotten these prank texts before, right?"

Emily shook her head and her hair made the room suddenly smell like chlorine, "No, I saw the text. I think Ali might be in trouble. I think WE might be in trouble." She looked over to Aria and blushed, "I went to his apartment after practice and he showed me the text."

Aria suddenly snapped back into reality and glared at her friend suddenly feeling betrayed. "You went to his apartment? Why?" She stood up and tucked her hair angrily behind her ear.

"Aria, he asked me too. I was in a room full of swimmers and he was rushing to meet with Mr. Tamborelli." She held her hands out in a surrendered motion, hoping her friend realized it was all perfectly innocent.

Spencer put her book down on Emily's bed and shook her head at Aria, "Aria we'll deal with that later. What did the text say, Em?"

Emily wrung her hands and sighed, "It was really personal, and it's not my place to tell his secret to everyone. Either way, he said it was something only he and one other person knew about. No one else."

Hanna shrugged and started to type on her phone, "so maybe that other person is screwing with him and A isn't really back. Did ya think of that?" She barely even looked up, she was busy answering emails and half listening to Emily's panic attack.

"Yeah, I thought that too, except well the other person wouldn't blackmail him. It's just not likely." Emily gave Aria a small look before she looked back at Spencer. "Lets think about this as the worst case scenario. What if A wasn't really Mona and…"

Spencer interrupted her, "and my sister?" She shook her head, "no they both admitted it, remember? They both detailed how they stalked us and how they tried to kill us. And, my parents went to see Melissa last week, she's still locked up in Philly Max". Spencer had long become numb to the fact that her sister had tried to kill her multiple times, it was just a back story for her now. The other girls tried to tiptoe around it, but what was the point? Facts were facts. Facts were things Spencer could deal with.

Hanna put her phone down and gave her friend a sympathetic look, "Listen, we're al overreacting. We're gonna get a call from Ali in like a week, she probably forgot her plan to come back here and went to some super exotic location with some super stud she met on a movie shoot."

They all nodded nervously wanting more than anything to believe that, but somehow they all couldn't force themselves too.

"I uh… I got a text from A last night" Aria said quietly, "It wasn't anything secretive or prying, just said, 'I know your secrets and I'll unbury them if you talk". She looked down at her clunky heels as Spencer repeated the line a few times.

"I wonder why they used unbury. I mean, we all know you killed Shana in self defense, hell the whole world knows. So A can't possibly mean that". Spencer took out her ipad and began to type on the screen. "Listen, I have to get back to studying, but I definitely think that if we get any more texts we need to tell the group. We've been through this before, there is no power in hiding our secrets."

Hanna shrugged as she tossed her designer bag on her shoulder, "Well I'm an open book, just read my blog for secrets". She casually strolled out burying her face back into her texts.

"Read your blog? Oh jeez, this I have to see". Spencer called after her as she walked out. "Em, I'm sure Ali is fine, just to be safe text me if you get anything else from this A, and I'll have my mom do a check to make sure Mona is still staring at rubber walls ok?". She gave Emily a reassuring hug before she too followed Hanna out and shut the apartment door.

Emily sat down next to Aria and sighed as she looked at her, "why didn't you tell us?"

Aria looked at Emily as tears flooded her eyes, her lip quivered as she tried to find the right words, "I don't know. It happened so suddenly. I just, it was easier to bury it away inside and never think about it." She wiped her tears before she laid her head on Emily's shoulder, "Thank you for not telling the girls about what was in Ezra's message."

Emily nodded and put her head on Aria's head and sighed, "You're welcome. Did you want to know what it said?"

Aria took a deep breath in and nodded taking her head away from Emilys and rested them on her knees as she hugged them, "yeah I might as well."

Emily got up and walked over to her gym bag and rummaged around until she found her phone before she pulled up a photo of the text. She couldn't even bring herself to read it out loud so instead she handed it to Aria and left the room to give her a moment of privacy.

Aria closed her eyes for a moment already having an idea what was in the message. She took one last deep breath before she glanced down at the screen and saw a photo of a tiny headstone with the engraving, "Nathanial Scott Fitzgerald, barely lived, deeply missed".


	5. Chapter 5

Spencer got home from Emily's and tossed her trench coat across her couch before she sat down and opened up her laptop. Normally, she'd spend the next several days googling anything about the Alison DiLaurentis stalking case she could, but she had so much on her plate these days. She wasn't even really sure Ali was missing. She could picture her on some exotic beach with three tan oiled stallions feeding her grapes while she forgets Rosewood even existed.

The second her home screen flashed up Spencer pushed all thoughts of Ali and A out of her head and immediately began to throw herself into her Torts textbook. Being a lawyer was going to be her new obsession. It was healthier than her obsession to be normal in college and not the "girl who almost died at the heads of a cyber-stalker who turned out to be her older sister". She was going to finish on top of her class at Yale and then move to a prestigious law firm and within ten years make partner then named partner. This was her obsession; she'd make everyone forget about Melissa and her parents drama. She'd be better than all of them combined.

She had been studying for what seemed like hours and didn't stop until her eyes started to make the pages fuzzy and all of the text jump around. She had surpassed her reading goal by two chapters and had highlighter marks and notes so extensive there was no way she would start 1L behind. She marked the page she finished on and closed her book and laptop before she slowly made her way to her bedroom. She noticed the sun was beginning to rise and that gave her just three hours of sleep before she had to be up and at her internship with the Ballard Spahr firm. She stripped down and crawled under her covers and was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

Her dreams were frantic and confusing. She spent most of it running from a shadowy figure in a place that reminded her of Radley. She couldn't remember where to go for safety and whenever she'd run into a room to hide Melissa would be there staring at her with an evil grin. Every once and a while she'd get lost in a hallway that went on forever trying to find a scream that sounded like Ali's. She just kept repeating the same thing over and over again, "Spencer he's closer than you think, run!".

When her alarm went off a few short hours later, Spencer awoke with a start, drenched in a cold damp sweat. It took her a moment to realize she was in her bed, at her place, alone. She wasn't in Radley, she wasn't in the same room with Melissa, she was in her bed, safe. She ran her fingers through her sweat soaked hair and got out of bed and started to get ready for her day, doing anything she could to push that dream from her mind.

She had just stepped out of the shower and looked at the mirror when she saw it, written in the steam over and over was, "all work and no play will get Spencer killed". Spencer gasped and stepped back slipping on in the shower hitting her head against the tiled wall. She could just make out a shadowy figure entering into her bathroom as she slumped to the floor and lost consciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

Hanna stood on the elevator carefully looking at her reflection in the elevator door. She was in head to toe Donna Karan, from the black blazer to the double layer jersey dress in heather gray which she noted matched perfectly with her Jimmy Choo's Malena pumps. She looked every bit of a fashion mad designer, which didn't really fit her job description of a tailor for the designer, but she was happy, and still using Mommy and Daddy's bank cards.

She took a sip of her Starbucks just as the doors opened and walked into the clean white loft space that had beautiful fabrics thrown all over the place and dress forms wearing couture, this was her happy place.

"Morning, Hanna" Juliet the new intern said as she eyed Hanna's impeccable outfit, "God I love that skirt, and that blazer!" Hanna smiled smugly and walked to the back by her little office. It wasn't much. It did have three cubicle walls and a lot of space for all of her sewing, and she didn't care that it wasn't the largest office in the area, or that her only view was of Phil the gay fabric guy; This is where Hanna was making her mark on the industry.

"Hanna, did you fix the draping on the red satin gown? Marcos wants to show that to Blake's people to see if she'll wear it to that gala at the UN next week". Ashley was Marcos Rodriquez's assistant, and she was just as pushy as he was. "Yea, it's being checked over by Charlotte, but I finished it last night. Although if Marcos wants Blake in it, he may have to add material for the bust area, she's has implants." Hanna called after Ashley as she walked away, apparently not really caring about Hanna's advice.

Hanna spent the rest of her morning checking on the hemlines of dresses and then undoing her work after Marcos decided that he wanted the dress to be different. It was tiring work and after a few hours Hanna couldn't feel her finger tips, but she loved it. It wasn't until around lunchtime that Hanna had a few minutes to check her phone which said she had 100+ missed texts. She opened up the text and rolled her eyes when she saw it was group text between Aria, Emily, Spencer and herself. The last dozen or so texts were from Emily and Aria sending out pings to her and Spencer's phones asking why there weren't answering, Spencer had been radio silent since the day before. Hanna just rolled her eyes again sent a quick, "IDC at work" and turned her phone off.

It wasn't until Hanna got a seat on her train did she turn her phone back on. It immediately began buzzing with missed texts from Aria and Emily. They must have nothing else better to do then text me, Hanna thought. She put her phone in her purse and settled in for the train ride, staring at the window planning what she would do for dinner when she got back to her apartment. She was just about to send Caleb a text when her phone starting buzzing and his name popped up, "Hey, I was just about to text you, mind reader. Whats up?" Hanna smiled to herself as she heard Caleb chuckle, "Just wanted to make sure you made your train, I'm making us dinner so I didn't want it to be ruined by you not making it home." Hanna smiled as the train chugged along, "yea I actually made the 5:36 train so I'll be home like twenty minutes early." She looked over to see the woman seated next to her giving her a dirty look for talking on her phone on public transit so she sighed and told Caleb she had to go before hanging up quickly with an apologetic look to the woman.

Hanna spent the rest of her train ride in a loved up haze, and got off the train on cloud 9. She walked to her car and without realizing it walked right into Emily, "Hanna, we have a problem". Hanna jumped back for a moment unsure of who she walked into or how they knew her name, but calmed down once she saw it was Emily. "Em, I'm on my way to something. I'm sure whatever it is Spencer can help you figure it out". Hanna clicked the unlock button on her key ring and opened the passenger door to gently place her Chanel briefcase her dad got her for her first job. "Hanna, A has Spencer." Emily said before she shoved her phone right under Hanna's nose. Sure enough it was a photo of Spencer tied up and gagged in a dingy looking basement. "When did you get this?" Hanna asked looking over the photo trying to figure out if there were any clues. "We all got it around three today. She's bleeding, see the blood on her shirt. Hanna, we need to figure out where she is, she needs help."

Hanna moved her bag off the seat and told Emily to get in before she jumped in the drivers side and they raced off across town to get the Aria's apartment. Emily filling her in on the group text she never really replied too. Apparently, no one had heard from Spencer since their meeting the other day, A could have had her since she left for all they knew. By the time they got to Aria's apartment and raced inside Hanna had almost forgotten about her dinner with Caleb. As they waited for the elevator in Aria's lobby Hanna dialed Caleb's number and immediately launched into an apology about the train breaking down and how she had to go back to Philly to swap trains. She could hear Caleb's disappointment in his voice, and what she thought might have been a bit of suspicion, but he didn't ask any questions, just said he'd leave some out so she could heat it up when she got home and then hung up.

Caleb put his phone in his pocket and blew out the candles, before he tossed the roses in the garbage and carried the ring box back to his dresser.


	7. Chapter 7

Spencer laid in a cold dark basement, her head spinning and aching in a way she hadn't experienced in her life, and she's been whacked in the head a few times in her life. It was too dark to see too far around her, but she could hear someones breathing, "hello?" Spencer's voice shook more than she realized and even though she wasn't screaming, the sound of her voice breaking the silence was frightening.

"Spencer?" A familiar sweet voice rang out from another corner of the room, the voice was familiar to Spencer, but sounded more scared than she had ever heard before. "Ali? Is that you?" Spencer shifted as best as she could in the small spot of the basement floor, she adjusted the chain around her leg and tried to get as close to the voice as possible. "Yea, it's me. Are you ok?" She heard Ali move slightly closer, she must be chained to the wall as well. They were in the same room for the first time in years and couldn't even get close enough to see each other. Though just knowing Ali was there was enough to comfort Spencer ever so slightly.

"I hit my head on something, it's bleeding, but I'm ok I guess. How are you?" Ali shifted in her spot again before she replied, "stiff, I don't even know how long I've been here." Spencer tried to move as close to the voice as she could, "do you know how we got here? Or who took us?" She had been reliving the final moments of what she could remember, she had woken up to get ready for her internship and then all of a sudden she was in the basement of some hell. "No, the last thing I remember was grabbing a drink by the grill before I met up with you guys. I needed to calm my nerves." She moved as close to Spencer as she could and could sort of make out her friends face. "All I know is, there are two of them. One of them is nicer than the other, and the other one doesn't speak. I had a huge cut on my cheek I guess from when they kidnapped me, he stitched it up and comes down at night to check it."

Spencer could just make out Ali's face and she noticed the red gash on her face and perfect stitches, "do you know who they are? They must know us. I mean, even the internet psychos wouldn't go this far". Ali shrugged and touched her cheek, "no, they were these ski masks and gloves and only come down to throw down a sandwich or to bring down water." She reached out to Spencer, "do you think anyone knows we're missing?" Spencer felt terrible, they all thought Ali was on a movie set or on some island with a hot new IT guy, but instead she had been in this basement for a week. And, as far as she knew, her parents thought she was preparing for law school and working 12 hour days. They wouldn't expect to hear from her for weeks. "A text us a picture of you last week, when we were waiting for you at the grille. We thought it was prank by some loser with photoshop. Ali, if we knew this is where you were we would have found you".

Ali opened her mouth to accept her apology but she heard someone coming down the stairs, "shh go back to the wall or they'll know the chains are long". She immediately shifted back to the wall and heard Spencer do the same, just as the door at the top of the stairs opened a little bit of light came in. A tall well built man dressed all in black with a black ski mask on. He had a flashlight lit so they could see him. "Listen carefully. The only people that know you two are missing are going to be joining you in here soon. And then, the fun will begin. Enjoy your time alive, it's fleeting." He gave a cold laugh and slowly stalked back up the stairs before he locked the door leaving Ali and Spencer in complete darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

Emily, Aria and Hanna arrived at Spencer's apartment building in the trendy Hollis area of Rosewood and stared at the building. They knew Spencer went home after she left their group discussion, and now they knew A had her. They just needed to know what happened between Spencer getting home and A getting her. They each looked at each other nervously before they made their way into the building and over to the elevators.

"Do you think this is some sort of a trap? Like, A knows we'll come here to investigate, what if A is waiting for us up there?" Hanna nervously tucked her hair behind her ear and looked anxiously at the elevator as the floors ticked down closer to L. "I have pepper spray" Aria said and began to dig through her purse. "Oh yeah, that'll work. Sorry A, we don't have a gun or a bat or a knife, but don't blink or this shit will burn". Hanna never really learned how to control her sarcasm reflex. Emily shot her a dirty look just as the elevator doors opened, "Hanna, we have to figure out what happened to Ali and Spencer. If you don't want to help then go wait in the car." She and Aria stepped onto the elevator and then turned around and stared at Hanna. Hanna took a moment before she jumped on too, just as the doors were about to close.

The elevator ride up to the fourth floor was a quick trip, and as they arrived at Spencer's apartment they all walked closely together, Aria in the center with her pepper spray. Spencer's door wasn't closed all the way and as they pushed it in quietly they weren't sure what to expect. The room was pitch black, all of the shades closed, all of the lights off. Emily felt around the wall for the light switch and flicked it on. "Oh my god" Aria whispered. They all looked at the wall where photos of Spencer's life were now painted over. "All work and no play will get Spencer killed - A" scribbled in what looked like blood. The girls stared at the statement for what felt like an hour before Hanna finally spoke up, "We need to figure out what A means. Do you think Spencer was working on who A was?" Emily looked the apartment door behind them to make sure A didn't try to sneak in while they were all there and went to the kitchen getting the three of them large knives, just in case. "Lets split up and see if we can find anything. I'll check her laptop, Hanna you check for notebooks and Aria you check for her phone. Odds are, A didn't take her phone. Maybe he was sending her messages".

The three girls went about their duties. Emily opened up Spencer's laptop and began to search through all of her recent documents, which were all related to her law classes. "Doesn't look like she took any notes!" Emily called in and Aria walked out with her hands empty. "I don't see a phone in her room anywhere. I'm gonna try calling it, why don't you see if her email is logged in on that?" She disappeared back into Spencer's bedroom as Emily opened up Spencer's email app. Even her email was OCD and organized, actually it was color coded as well. "She has a folder that is just labeled A, but it's password protected". Hanna walked out and sighed, "no notebooks. It looks like A got her in the bathroom though while she was in the shower. There's some blood and hair on the wall like she hit her head." She sat down on the couch next to Emily and took the laptop, "if we were Spencer, what would we make our password?" She started to type in various dates that had significance to Spencer, Toby's birthday, her birthday, graduations etc. All of them were useless. "Do you think Caleb would be willing to help us hack it?" Aria had appeared in the hallway with a cellphone that had been properly stomped on, "Looks like A didn't want us to know what was on her phone". She put the phone down on the table, "I don't want Caleb to know what's going on. He's got a lot on his plate right now and with his new business starting to take off, I don't want him doing anything illegal that might jeopardize it."

Hanna shut the laptop and looked at the girls, "besides, it's Spencer. We know her better than anyone, we can figure this out ourselves." Aria nodded then looked down at the phone, "think we can get someone to help us figure out what was on the phone?" Aria knew that was a Caleb specialty. and eventually Hanna would have to realize they needed Caleb's help, but until then, they were left with two things they couldn't open and two friends locked in some nightmare. Emily put the phone in her pocket and grabbed Spencer's laptop bag, "lets just get this stuff back to my place and we can figure it out from there ok? Maybe we can hack her email with some kind of a program we find online?"

Hanna checked her phone and sighed, "I have to go home. Caleb made us dinner and I'm starving and he's gonna think something is up if I don't get home soon." Aria looked down at her watch and then to Emily, "alright we'll drop you off, then Em you come to my place. I have to write up a quick article then send it to my editor for a draft check. After than we can try and hack into this thing." Emily nodded and slid the laptop into the bag and stood up, "alright. I just want to find them soon." None of them wanted to admit this A seemed to be on a whole other level than what they were used too. A had attacked them all before, from Mona running Hanna over to killing people to protect the secret, but it usually took some building up before the monster in black to act out violently. This time A kidnapped two of them before they were even really sure A was real. They weren't dealing with an amateur.

"Hanna, can you come by tomorrow after work tomorrow? Hopefully by then we'll be in her email and have more clues?" Aria took the knives back into the kitchen before she came back out and looked at her friend who still seemed hell bent on pushing them all away. "Yea, maybe. I'll have to let you know. We're dressing a few celebrities for some events so I'm really busy right now." She knew if she said she wasn't sure she wanted to help she'd get attacked by both of them, so it was just better to shut her mouth and keep her thoughts to herself. "Alright good, call us tomorrow and we'll text you if we get anywhere." The three girls headed to the elevator together carefully carrying Spencer's things, a long night of sleuthing and coffee ahead of them. they stepped on the elevator and pressed L just as their phones all went off.

"This isn't high school, this is the big leagues. Step up your game or I'll have three- A".


	9. Chapter 9

Aria sat at the grill with her laptop up on the table with a large latte and her notes. Her favorite part of Saturday mornings were coming to the grill to work on her articles and sip her coffee. She was supposed to be working on her book, but she had spent the night before at Emily's trying to break into Spencer's email and didn't get any of her own work done. She had to complete the article on Rosewood's Founders Day parade before 5, a topic she really wasn't all that interested in. She took a long sip of her latte before she started to jot down an outline for the article. She really wanted to write the juicy stuff, the crime desk, work on the investigative side. She had to start at the bottom though. Fluff pieces in between the major breaking news stories to show everyone the world wasn't always bad.

"Aria?" She heard her name and recognized the sing song voice immediately. She got the chills. She put her pen down and looked over to the voice. He looked the same: same boyish charm, same smiling eyes, same wrinkled Hollis tshirt and jeans. Ezra could still make your heart melt without even trying. "Ezra…" Aria didn't really know what to say, she didn't really expect to run into him, she hadn't run into him since she got back to Rosewood. It was almost like they had some secret understanding the grill was her place, the Thai restaurant was his. This was breaking all of the rules.

He took a step closer to her and started to play with the cardboard ring around his coffee, "yeah, I uh, I heard you were back in town. I was hoping I'd run into you eventually". She nodded quietly and looked down at her Tory Burch flats, avoiding eye contact with him was always easier. She knew how easy his eyes would pull her back in. "Yeah, working at the paper. I actually can't really talk, I have a huge deadline and well ya know". Ezra nodded quietly and started to break off little pieces of the ring, "I just wanted to say hi and see if maybe you'd want to grab a drink one night? Just as friends. I want to hear about college and your life". His life was pretty much the same since she left him, he was still teaching at the school, still writing on the side and still single living alone in his apartment running from his mother's watchful glare.

She picked up her pen and sighed, "I don't know, Ezra." She started to twist the pen in her hand and stare intently down at her shoes. His blue eyes stared at her intensely, "His birthday is coming up". As he said this she dropped her pen and he finished ripping off the cardboard ring, he bent down and picked up her pen and looked at her, making eye contact for the first time. "Yea, I know it is. I was his mother." She snatched the pen back and suddenly felt a wave of anger and nausea hit her. He frowned slightly and sighed as he got up, "I didn't mean to insinuate that you'd forget. I just". She glared at him as he stopped to search for words, "you just what? Wanted to remind me of the worst day of my life?" "No, I just, I miss him too Aria." Ezra started to back up slowly and shrugged before he turned and left quietly.

Aria watched his retreating back before she leaned back against her chair and threw her pen on the notebook. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes, stinging as she fought to keep them from falling. She bit her bottom lip and immediately remembered that day, it all came flooding back.

It started off like any normal day, she had woke up and began to make breakfast for her little family. Ezra had retreated to the window to work on his book while she made his waffles. She was starting to get a little too big to move around as easily as she liked, six months pregnant on a short girl made her look almost full term. "Three more months of this and by the end you're gonna have to roll me to the hospital!" She cracked an egg into the bowl as he laughed, "Like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?" She smiled and went about her cooking. It was about an hour later she started to feel the cramps in her abdomen. She called her mom slightly worried but Ella just told her it was Braxton-Hicks and to just relax they'd be over soon. Three hours later she was rushed to the hospital and told she was in labor. A little over an hour later she was staring down at her little boy, not even two pounds, struggling for every breath. He lived for three hours. Long enough to name him, cuddle him and watch him leave them.

Nothing was the same after that. Going back home and seeing all of the baby stuff just broke their hearts more. Aria retreated into herself, shutting herself off from everyone, Ezra threw himself into his book. They'd go days without speaking. Eventually they grew to resent each other. Aria knew he blamed her, she lost his son. Ezra knew Aria blamed him, he was supposed to protect her. They ended things quietly one night and hadn't spoken since. They both carried their grief with them everywhere, all the time. Neither one wanting to talk about it, instead doing all they could to avoid it.

Aria shook her head to snap out of her memory and sighed looking at her laptop. She knew she had to concentrate and write the article, she had to get it revised before she could send in the final product. Her head just wasn't in the game anymore. She went to snap her laptop shut when she heard the little bell alerting her to a new email. She minimized her document and opened her email and immediately felt the hair on the back of her neck go up, "Poor little liar, you'll pay for your choices. Spencer will go first then Ali then Ezra. - A"


End file.
